The abuser VS The abused!

The Abuser
Domestic violence is mostly perpetrated by men against women. It is usually perpetrated by males who are, or who have been, in positions of trust and intimacy and power – husbands, boyfriends, fathers, fathers-in-law, stepfathers, brothers, uncles, sons, or other relatives (WAO, 2000). Women can also be violent. However, their actions account for a small percentage of domestic violence.

From the research done by WAO (Abdul Ghani, 2005), all of the violence reported were perpetrated by their trust worthiest person such as husbands/ex-husbands, parents, boyfriends/ex-boyfriends, live-in partners and relatives. And the acts of violence were not confined to lower education people, but also professionals who have university qualifications (up to Diploma and Degree level).

The Abused
In the same research report by WAO (Abdul Ghani, 2005), most abused women were possessing a lower education qualification. Out of 116 women who sought shelter from WAO’s home, 54 women were having no income and 32 women were having income lower than RM 500 in a month. Many (about 42 women) were unemployed, 13 women were professionals such as doctors, IT executive, accountant and secretary, and the rest are general workers technical workers, administrators, self-employed, students, worked clerical job, sales, services sector and others. Another group of women such as migrant workers were also badly experienced psychological abuses by their partners.

In all, the statistics show that violence against women can happen to any female adult from any socioeconomic background, race or religion. Basically, it can happen to any woman in this world.